Charlie Puth dances with claymation instruments and appears to hint at fatherhood in the new music video for “Changes,” the first offering from the singer-songwriter’s next album, Whatever’s Clever!.[1][2]
“Changes” is a pure hit of super polished Eighties pop delight, filled with prickly guitar lines, glossy keys, gated snares, and a booming choir to help bring home the final chorus: “There’s been some changes in our life/I can feel the distance, space and time/Made everything different, day and night/Everything has changed but I don’t know why.”
The accompanying video, directed by Charlotte Rutherford, fittingly harkens back to videos of the same era, as Puth embarks on a goofy adventure through a pre-digital world filled with charming claymation figurines and old-school stop motion effects. Puth’s wife, Brooke Sansone, also makes a cameo in the clip, and at one point, the couple touches Sansone’s belly, ostensibly hinting at a very big change on the way: The couple’s first child.
Whatever’s Clever! is set to arrive on March 6, 2026, via Atlantic Records. Puth co-produced the album with BloodPop, best known for his work with Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Beyoncé, and more.
Whatever’s Clever! will be Puth’s fourth album and first since 2022’s Charlie[3]. While “Changes” will definitely appear on the record, a full track list hasn’t been revealed yet, so it’s unclear if the album will also feature some of Puth’s other singles from the past few years, including “That’s Not How This Works,”[4] “Lipstick,”[5] and “Hero.”[6] (Last year, Puth also dropped a one-off holiday song, “December 25th,”[7] which he said he wrote “on a whim” while working on Whatever’s Clever!)
Last month, Puth debuted “Changes,” and a few other songs, at a four-night residency[8] at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club (with one show featuring a cameo from one of Puth’s songwriting heroes, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds). Puth will kick off a similar solid-out run at the Blue Note in Los Angeles tonight, Oct. 16, with shows scheduled through Oct. 19.
References
- ^ Charlie Puth (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ “Changes,” the first offering (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ Charlie (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ “That’s Not How This Works,” (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ “Lipstick,” (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ “Hero.” (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ one-off holiday song, “December 25th,” (www.rollingstone.com)
- ^ four-night residency (www.rollingstone.com)